griffon8 wrote:Anyway, don't let these quibbles keep you from writing.
(Thanks for the pointers. I still need to pay attention when I write.)
I feel that you did indeed do Rin justice, certainly. She sounds very in character (to me), anyway. Your writing so far has been very good, keep up the great work! I'll be keeping up with this story!
(Well, that's good! And here is the final part of act 1! The longest part too. Enjoy!)
Part 5: Dual Duality
I'm not exactly sure how, but as Lilly approaches my seat she can sense a bit of the aftermath from the conversation earlier today. She obviously can't see me with my head hanging in my arms which are folded on my desk, nor can she see that my hands are gripping my hair, but perhaps the uneasiness of my breath and the aura of frustration I might be emitting is what she can feel once she comes to her seat, next to mine. It isn't long before she speaks up. "Kezukio, is there a problem?"
"I'm not sure if its a problem." Great, now I'm starting to even sound like Rin. "I think some old, dead part of me is coming back after months of it not being used, and its causing a bit of a headache." Okay, that is a HUGE understatement, and it turns out she quickly catches on.
"It sounds like a problem to me. What happened?" Would she believe that one talk with a random girl would give me this aching, yet intriguing brain tease and hurt? Does she even know Rin? My eye opens up to see her face, written with genuine concern. It must have been from all the time she's spent with Hanako, tending to her and making sure she didn't break down. A motherly figure. It fits her quite well, and I eventually sigh in defeat and let out a small smile.
"Do you think one conversation with a random stranger would be enough to bring up old habits?" She pauses in thought, her hands cupped together and resting on the desk, her head still directed to my position out of politeness.
"I think its quite possible." Wait... her tone. Now it was her turn to lie. It sounds like she's already heard it happen. But with who, then? Oh... she kept quiet about it because its probably happened to Hanako. I refrain myself from asking further and just continue on.
"I woke up early and took a walk around the campus. There was this lone girl, sleeping in front of a mural. Lying on the ground. Its a surprise she wasn't caught by the night patrol." I pause for a second, then move on. Lilly still seems worried. "She also had no arms. I decided to-"
"Stop." Lilly seems to know what I'm talking about. I do as she asks, and now it was her turn to sigh in agitation. "You talked to Rin, didn't you?" I sigh a bit.
"I must assume you know her. And yes, Rin... Tezuka, I think, was the one I talked to. She was... interesting to talk to, and it may or may not have brought up the weirder, wittier side of me." I shrug a bit, which ultimately turns into a stretch of the arms upward. "Not like its a bad thing, it's just one of those things you can't really expect coming. But such is life." She actually chuckles a bit at that statement and smiles.
"I try to avoid her for the reason you experienced. But if you think she could be a new friend to you, then that's good. It's never bad to try and make new friends." I assume she must change her words of wisdom around Hanako, but I go along with what she says anyway.
"Yes, it's never a bad thing." Both of us a bit happier in the end, we go along the morning classes as done yesterday. My tablet is still having some eyes drawn to it, even if they can't really see it. It must be the unusual sound of tapping on plastic that's getting their attention, much like it got Lilly's. I do a silent prayer that nobody else comes to me and tries to make me explain the device. Yesterday was a challenge in its own right.
-------
My plea goes answered, and the morning classes go by most uneventfully all the way to the bell. Its only until I open the door to exit for lunchtime that the situation turns very odd with one, singular person.
Its RIn.
"Hello..." Its not what I expect, so my response is a bit off.
"Hello. I thought you would be in this classroom. Bad eyes goes with your condition, right?" I'm about to protest, but I remember that the one-eye thing needs to be kept a secret, for now. I wonder how long I can make it like that. I try to find a reason why she would follow me, but nothing comes up.
"Why were you looking for me?" I sound a bit angry, but its more on confusion. I guess I was right when I thought that nobody really likes to be confused on something, even me. She responds with another nonchalant shrug.
"I don't think I remember, or will remember. But if we're going to talk, we should go to the roof instead. I'm hungry." One topic to another, it takes a while to piece out what she's saying. She's... asking to join her for lunch? It seems like a bad idea, but something compels me to go along with it. This is probably fate danging something in front of me again.
"Alright then. Lead the way." She turns around after my statement, and I just follow her wherever she's going. Even if I'm not looking at her, I think Lilly is very confused right now to my spontaneous agreement to go. Somehow, I can fee I kind of feel the same way. Why am I doing this again? After finding some stable ground to stay with in terms of friends with Lilly and Hanako, I find myself taking a risk of both mind and sanity going with this new person which I only met this morning, going to the roof with her for lunch and probably some more heated debate. Maybe she's just alone, and picks people at random. I can't make any clear assumption until I know more of her, and like Hanako, that's probably going to take a long time.
Soon, I find myself going up some stairs with her, to the roof. The stairs themselves aren't a problem for either of us, but then I suddenly remember something. This is technically going outside. Unless there's some shade, I'm going to be burning like a crisp. I guess that's going to be my first priority, to find some shade. Once up the stairs, she uses her foot to take the knob and turn it a bit, but enough to open it. Wow, she's pretty dexterous with her feet and legs, but that probably makes up for her lack of arms. The blaring light makes me turn a bit until the sunglasses show their strength to resist the light. She walks out and looks around with a discontent look on her face. "Where is she?"
"Who?" I soon make my way out as well and I turn to look at her, whose still looking around.
"Someone else comes up here with me, but she also brings me my lunch. She must be running late again." She grins a bit at her joke, but she looks at me to confirm the validation of her statement. "My friend, she's on the track team. That's why its funny."
"Ah." I do chuckle a bit at the simple nitpick. She walks over to some benches and looks around. The only spot of shade is a little given off by the low wall and chain-link fence, so it looks like I will need to tough this out. I follow her once again, and I take a seat on the bench. She does the same, but then looks skyward. "Why do you like eating up here?" I ask, hoping to start something up. Or, do I want to do that? Well, too late now.
"It's not just eating. I experience here too." She doesn't move an inch, just looking at the sky.
"Experience, huh?" I look up at the sky, not in the direction of the sun. "I think I know what you mean. I would probably be a more outdoors person if it wasn't so dangerous for me." I chuckle a bit. "It's a bit funny, isn't it? The sun is responsible for life on this planet, but it's one of the more dangerous things to me. Whenever its night time, I try to experience as much as I can, when nobody else is around." Out of the corner of my eye, she actually averts her gaze from the sky and looks at me like I was some sort of an alien.
"You do that too? I thought I was the only-"
Even though the door opened during her sentence, she still went on until a high-pitched voice came from the doorway. "Rin? Whose..." That voice sounds familiar, and I turn to see the girl from Sunday's experience looking at me with a slight scowl. "Why are you here?!" Her voice changes to a more demanding tone. That's the same question I asked myself earlier without a legitimate answer, so I find myself doing a natural response: shrugging. Just like Rin.
"Rin invited me up here, so I came." That's at least the truth. Rin finally peels her vision away from me and looks at... I forgot her name.
"He seemed lost earlier this morning, Emi. I thought this was what you were suppose to do." Huh... I did give off the impression of being a bit lost earlier. I guess in a sense, I still was. Emi sighs in defeat as I make a mental note to remember the name if this is who Rin eats with.
"You didn't seem lost Sunday." She remarks, walking over to us.
"That's because I had a focused goal in mind. Now, not so much." I have a feeling this lunch is going to be as challenging, if not more, then yesterday. Why did I allow myself to come up here, why?
-------
I sigh in relief as the three of us seem to reach some kind of consensus with my presence, and just as the bell rings too. I pack my stuff and rise from the bench along with Emi, but Rin stays sitting for a while. Emi soon takes notice of something. "Rin, you didn't eat all of your lunch! Its not good to under eat!" Emi would be on the ball with that kind of stuff if she's on the track team. Rin, once again, just shrugs and closes her lunch box with her feet.
"I'll eat it later." I decide to let the two of them handle the conversation themselves.
"I guess I'll catch you two around. Later." I wave to them as I make my way to the door. They give their respective bye's as I open the door and descend down the flight of stairs. Now alone, I take a better look of the stairway. Its dark and rugged, with not a single light on. Kind of creepy, in a way. Eventually I make my way through it and back to room 3-2. I head over to my seat, where Lilly waits my arrival. I already know the question she's going to ask.
"How was lunch with Rin?" Spot on. I grin a bit to myself as I sit down.
"Better then the conversation this morning." We both manage to chuckle at that, but her next rest words are ones I don't see coming.
"Hanako was wondering where you went. She wanted to see that tablet of yours." Huh. That's unexpected. She was... interested in something I have? My grin becomes a soft smile with a slight idea.
"Where does she usually go after classes?" Maybe I can repay the time I wasn't with her at lunch after the afternoon classes. Lilly seems to catch on.
"She usually stays in the Library if she doesn't go directly to her dorm room."
"Ah, thanks." Soon the teacher enters, and we both begin our normal routine of paying attention, taking notes and doing work.
-------
The class seems to go on longer now with the prospect that there is something to look forward to once class is done. Either that, or its just the fact that it's the afternoon going onto evening, and everyone just wants to get out of class. Soon, fate complies and the bell rings to signal the end of class. Everyone gets packed up along with Lilly and I, and I soon rise out of my seat with my backpack and tablet. "I'll see you later Lilly, alright?" She smiles as well and rises.
"Very well, but do be careful with Hanako. She tends to be different when I'm not around." That does seem logical. Hanako sticks around with Lilly so much and feels to comfortable with her, she would only be more reclusive without her there to be with her.
"Note taken. Thanks." We both smile and go along the same path to the second floor, but once there, she heads into the tea room by herself while I continue along the hallway to the library. Once I open the wooden doors, the first thing that hits me is the smell of books itself, something I was quite familiar with. The library is quite big, bigger then most I had seen in my life. Not only are books everywhere, but there are also some students who are listening to some headphones. It must be audio books for those who are blind and don't know braille, or just don't like reading. A woman works furiously at the counter, but I don't mind her. I keep walking along, trying to find the one who I missed out on during lunch on my own fault.
There, in the back. She seems to have already gotten herself deep into a book, secluded in a corner where nobody else is. A part of me wants to leave her in solitude, in peace with her book, but I came here for a reason. I slowly make my way to her, now seeing she had seated herself in a bean bag. Deciding to make my appearance known to her, I take a seat in a bag next to her. My eye spots that she looked at me quickly, but then went right back to her book. I might as well try to play things softly. "Hey Hanako." My head is slightly in her direction, so she at least gets the idea that I'm looking at her.
"H-hi Kezukio." Just as I thought, she's much more shy out here on her own. Perhaps getting to the point will be easier, but I won't know until I try. With that idea in mind, I break the silence in between us.
"Lilly said that you were interested in my tablet, and that you usually hung out here. So I'm here if you still want to see it." This makes her freeze, blush a vivid red, then begin shaking a bit. I instantly regret doing this straight-forward approach until she nods a bit. "Well, here." I take the tablet, awaken it out of sleep mode, unlock it and hold it out to her with one hand. Still shaking a bit, she, very slowly, puts down her book and reaches for the tablet with her left hand. Once she has a grip on it, I let go, and she takes it into her hands, placing it on her lap and looking at it for a bit.
"T-t-thanks...." She actually manages to put out a light smile, something which makes me smile in return.
"You're welcome, its the least I could do since I missed out on lunch with you and Lilly." Her smile widens a bit, and the effect is contagious. Her eyes soon are locked on the piece of technology on her lap, slowly getting the idea of how it works. Then, she notices something that makes her talk again.
"Y-y-you p-play chess?" Ah, she found that app. I chuckle a bit. "Yea, got back into it a few months ago. You want to play?" She looks back at me.
"S-s-sure." My suspicions are confirmed. This blessed device of technology will make conversing with Hanako much easier on us both. She starts up the app, and I face my whole body to her. Soon, the game is on.
-------
The rest of the evening is spent with Hanako, exploring everything that my tablet has to offer. Not just chess, but a lot of the simple puzzle games seem to have gotten her attention. I also show her some of my literature work, which she seems to like. Only when the light coming through the window becomes an orange tint do I realize how much time we've spent here. "Ah, its getting late. I should get working on my homework." I take a look at my tablet and notice it's beginning to run low on battery power. I guess that's another good reason, but every percent of energy used was worth it today. Hanako takes a look out the window and nods.
"Oh, o-okay. I'll see you l-later then." She's still smiling, a great sight to see on her. I take the tablet and put it on sleep mode, take my backpack and rise.
"Bye, Hanako."
"B-bye." With that, I'm off feeling very light, all the way back to my dorm room. I do notice, though, that Rin isn't working on the mural, but I let it slide. However, homework doesn't come first. What does, is my log. After plugging in the tablet into the outlet to begin charging, I make another document.
Log three.
Today has been a big day for me, in more ways then one, but I'll begin with the first few things that happened. On a morning walk, I meet this girl named Rin. She's apparently an artist, working on a mural near the dorms. I woke her up from sleeping on the hard floor, and the conversation that followed... how can I describe it? She's very unique in how she talks, being very straight-forward and questioning with a philosopher-like style. Just that one talk with her, alone in the early morning, was enough to bring back that one side of me I thought was gone, pushed away for so long. But I guess what they say is true; the part of yourself that you constantly suppress only gets stronger. I think something clicked between us two, but I'll be damned if I know exactly what. We just talked nonsense, so much that she actually found my classroom after morning classes and invited me to some lunch on the roof. It turns out we have some things in common I never thought anyone else could have, which is interesting. Emi from day one was there too, which I found pretty hilarious.
But the most interesting thing is that after lunch, Lilly told me that Hanako was interested in my tablet, and wondered where I had gone. Of course, with myself usually taking this kind of initiative, found out from Lilly that she usually hangs out in the library after school ends, so when it did, I went there first. The meeting was shaky and a bit awkward at first, but soon she was engrossed with the piece on technology I have in my hands. She also smiled for the first time since I've seen her, and it was a heart-warming sight. I may not know what exactly caused her to have her burns, but to just see her happy was good enough for me. We stayed until the sun began to go down tinkering around with my tablet, even playing a few games of chess. I'm a bit better then her, it seems, but she plays for fun like I do, so bragging rights aren't something we're fighting over for.
These two events, however, now come to a dilemma for me. Both are very interesting people in their own right, but also gave their own interest in myself, even if for Hanako it was more or less for the tablet. I don't think they know each other directly, and they stay in separate groups, so how am I going to share my time with them both? I'm still very new here compared to the others, true, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't take the initiative to make new friends, right? I barely know each of them, and the only one I might consider a friend in the entire school at this point would be Lilly. I guess everything will fold out in time, but I pray to... well, since the sisters of fate have been playing their game on me, I guess them, that this ends well, somehow. Like yesterday, It's still way too early to be thinking about anything for the future when your present still needs to be stable, and above all I need to make sure I'm also taking care of myself.
Speaking of which, the stack of homework still yearns to be completed, so that shall come next. And wow, I am getting better at logs. Until next time, then.
Now very content with how all of this is going, I save and close the system, going back to the sheets of paper. My mind still drifts sometimes to Hanako and Rin, the spotlights of my log. If I had to make a choice right now between the two... I couldn't. The night continues with this constant battle between concentration and imagination, until eventually the day comes to a close, and I find myself in bed. Somehow, I have a feeling I won't sleep well tonight, but only time will tell. For now, I will try and get some rest.